Add Mikhail Grabovski to the list of available centers; could be a good fit in Detroit

The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed center Mikhail Grabovski on unconditional waivers Thursday with the intention to buy out the final five years of his contract that had an annual salary-cap hit of $5.5 million.

Grabovski and his contract became expendable when the Leafs dealt for Chicago’s Dave Bolland at the draft.

Could center Mikhail Grabovski be a good fit in Detroit?

At 29, Grabovski struggled during the lockout-shortened season a year ago with just nine goals and seven assists in 48 games.

His play did pickup in the playoffs.

Grabovski is coming off back-to-back 50-plus point seasons and has scored at least 20 goals (29 being the high in the 2010-11 season) three of the four years prior.

He also has a connection with Pavel Datsyuk.

The two share the same agent and were part of one of the more productive lines in the KHL during the lockout.

Grabovski had 12 goals and 12 assists in 29 games with CSKA Moscow. Datsyuk had 11 goals and 25 assists in 31 games.

Grabovski could be rejoined on a line with Datsyuk in Detroit or he could center the second line with Johan Franzen and possibly a free-agent-to-be-named-later.